Gilmer Free Press
NATIONAL and Local FEEDER & STOCKER CATTLE SUMMARY - WEEK ENDING 07.06.2012
RECEIPTS: Auctions Direct Video/Internet Total This Week 175,400 34,800 234,100 444,300 Last Week 153,300 23,000 34,100 210,400 Last Year 190,800 91,200 5,000 287,000
Compared to last week, feeder steers and heifers weighing over 650 lbs. sold 4.00-8.00 lower with many instances as much as 12.00 lower especially in the Northern Plains.
Calves under 650 lbs. traded fully 5.00 to 15.00 lower with the driest areas quoting lightweights as much as 20.00 lower and the popular 500 lb. calf seeing the full decline.
Dry weather concerns are to blame for the lion’s share of the extreme downside pressure that has culminated over the past 2-3 weeks with 72% of the continental US now rated abnormally dry or worse, compared to just 32% last year when the Southwest underwent their historical herd sell-off.
This summer the drought sales are happening all over the Atlas and despite a considerable effort to retain replacement quality heifers last fall and this spring, herd rebuilding will have to wait for at least another year.
Top quality cow/calf pairs and fall calving bred cows are flooding parched markets out west and down in the Ozarks, but buyers are running out of addresses to send these displaced replacements.
Dry, hot weather is also forcing feeder cattle to market; the Eastern Missouri Commission Company near the Illinois line in Bowling Green, MO received a 700 head consignment from two hours south of St. Louis this Friday.
These cattle were mostly black with a medium backgrounding-lot flesh condition and good enough to put on a Nebraska/Iowa order; a load of steers weighed 665 lbs. at 151.25, while 435 head of similar heifers averaged 707 lbs. at 138.10.
The curled-up condition of the corn across most of the Midwest sent CBOT contracts soaring early in the week while CME feeder cattle futures plummeted. Later in the week, feeder contracts regained much of their loss but cash corn prices still topped 7.00 in Kansas City and Omaha by Friday.
The USDA’s planted corn acreage estimate was increased about a half million acres from late March prospective plantings to 96.41 million acres.
Early this past spring, analyst thought that anything over 90 million acres would give us all the corn we would ever need, but evaporating crop conditions have lowered yield expectations and this year’s harvested acres were adjusted down to 88.9 million acres with some likely to be abandoned and much expected to be cut for silage.
Early this week it appeared as though the Western Corn Belt had caught a spark from the Colorado forest fire and popped the entire crop, but contrary to popular belief there are fields that look really good.
Certainly, most of farm and ranch country needs moisture but a good soaking rain in downtown Chicago could also help.
Let’s don’t forget that we just had the smallest calf crop in 60 years and beef is still a popular menu item for summer cookouts.
Superior Video’s Week in the Rockies offered 230,000 head and it was tough sledding early in the sale but demand seemed to improve as they went.
The Clear Creek Cattle Company near Casper, WY sold nearly 1000 head of fancy Charolais steer calves with a base weight of 440 lbs. at 225.00 for October delivery so maybe the world’s not coming to an end.
Early fed cattle sales in Kansas were steady at 116.00 while other areas continued to pass bids.
This week’s reported auction volume included 50% over 600 lbs. and 39% heifers.
Auction Receipts: 175,400 Last Week: 153,300 Last Year: 190,800
Weston Livestock, Weston, WV
Weighted Average Report for Saturday June 30, 2012
Cattle Receipts: 51 Slaughter cows made up 27% of the offering, slaughter bulls 10%, replacement cows 2%, and feeders 61%. The feeder supply included 42% steers, and 58% heifers. Near 55% of the run weighed over 600 lbs. Feeder Steers Medium and Large 1 Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price 1 360-360 360 131.00 131.00 Exotic 1 555-555 555 131.00 131.00 Smoke 2 627-627 627 140.00 140.00 1 620-620 620 132.00 132.00 RWF Medium and Large 2 2 530-545 538 126.00-138.00 131.92 2 560-560 560 135.00-138.00 136.50 4 605-630 611 118.00-136.00 131.36 Feeder Heifers Medium and Large 1 Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price 2 587-587 587 131.00 131.00 Medium and Large 2 1 540-540 540 120.00 120.00 2 562-562 562 134.00 134.00 3 581-581 581 133.00 133.00 RWF 2 600-620 610 120.00-134.00 126.89 4 650-685 668 120.00-132.00 126.64 2 707-707 707 127.00 127.00 2 822-822 822 116.00 116.00 RWF Bred Cows Medium and Large 1 - 2 Young Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price 1 1120-1120 1120 999.00-1075.00 1075.00 Per Head 1-3 Months Bred Slaughter Cows Boner 80-85% Lean Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price 6 970-1350 1178 74.00-83.00 78.67 2 910-1185 1048 84.00-91.00 87.04 High Dressing 4 1400-1455 1429 80.00-82.50 81.36 Lean 85-90% Lean 2 1100-1150 1125 67.50-70.50 69.03 Slaughter Bulls Yield Grade 1-2 Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price 1 2130-2130 2130 96.50 96.50 4 1650-1935 1765 106.50-110.00 107.95 High Dressing
Jackson County Regional Livestock, Ripley, WV
Weighted Average Report for Saturday June 30, 2012
Cattle Receipts: 69 Slaughter cows made up 16% of the offering, slaughter bulls 7%, replacement cows 7%, and feeders 70%. The feeder supply included 17% steers, 42% heifers, and 42% bulls. Near 25% of the run weighed over 600 lbs. Feeder Steers Medium and Large 1 Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price 1 260-260 260 175.00 175.00 1 370-370 370 172.50 172.50 3 560-567 565 151.00-152.00 151.67 1 605-605 605 147.00 147.00 1 675-675 675 136.00 136.00 Holstein Medium and Large 2 1 490-490 490 95.00 95.00 Feeder Heifers Medium and Large 1 Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price 1 220-220 220 140.00 140.00 3 405-420 415 133.00-134.00 133.33 2 465-465 465 134.00 134.00 5 500-540 512 119.00-124.00 121.38 4 556-590 565 110.00-124.00 120.34 1 720-720 720 123.00 123.00 Medium and Large 2 1 375-375 375 118.00 118.00 2 510-520 515 110.00-119.00 114.46 1 725-725 725 110.00 110.00 Feeder Bulls Medium and Large 1 Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price 3 370-380 377 177.00-182.50 178.80 1 400-400 400 147.50 147.50 3 478-478 478 145.00 145.00 4 557-595 576 135.00-152.00 143.22 1 630-630 630 137.50 137.50 2 660-690 675 115.00-137.00 126.24 1 770-770 770 118.00 118.00 1 910-910 910 100.00 100.00 1 1075-1075 1075 90.00 90.00 Medium and Large 2 1 555-555 555 115.00 115.00 2 655-655 655 107.50 107.50 Bred Cows Medium and Large 1 - 2 Young Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price 1 985-985 985 690.00 690.00 Per Head 1-3 Months Bred 1 930-930 930 700.00 700.00 Per Head 7-9 Months Bred Medium and Large 1 - 2 Middle Aged 1 1245-1245 1245 965.00 965.00 Per Head 4-6 Months Bred Medium and Large 1 - 2 Aged 1 1320-1320 1320 999.00-1060.00 1060.00 Per Head 1-3 Months Bred 1 1355-1355 1355 999.00-1000.00 1000.00 Per Head 4-6 Months Bred Slaughter Cows Breaker 70-80% Lean Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price 1 1640-1640 1640 85.50 85.50 High Dressing Boner 80-85% Lean 2 850-880 865 71.00-73.50 72.27 1 735-735 735 83.00 83.00 High Dressing 5 915-1200 1039 70.00-78.00 75.62 1 1310-1310 1310 86.00 86.00 High Dressing 1 1045-1045 1045 59.00 59.00 Low Dressing Slaughter Bulls Yield Grade 1-2 Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price 2 1440-1460 1450 98.00-107.00 102.53 High Dressing 3 1520-1915 1717 100.00-103.50 101.78 High Dressing Cow Calf Pairs Head 5 under 8 years old new born 1100.00-1375.00 over 8 yrers old new born 1150.00 Baby Calves Head 5 new born beef 75.00-150.00 new born dairy 15.00-65.00